Plan for new Dandenong train line off the rails - The Age

Jason Dowling

A GOVERNMENT promise to build a new rail line from Caulfield to Dandenong appears to have been shelved.

The Government announced the "third Dandenong line" as part of its 2006, $10.5 billion transport plan Meeting Our Transport Challenges.

Now the Government is indicating new "sections" of a third track will be built.

Stephen Moynihan, spokesman for Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky, said "the Government has not abandoned the plan for additional track on the Dandenong line", but he would not say how much track was in the plan.

He said Dandenong rail services would be considered "as part of the Government's broader integrated transport plan to be released at the end of this year".

"Given the complexity of the Dandenong Corridor rail project, it has been broken into smaller stages to minimise disruption on the rail network and introduce benefits progressively," he said.

Opposition transport spokesman Terry Mulder said the Government had walked away from the project.

"They will most likely pop some passing loops on the line and send the money elsewhere," he said.

He said the money had likely gone to a new transport plan to be released by Premier John Brumby in November.

Read the original article at TheAge.com.au